=Adri.= I almost forgot it. [_Aside to RALPH._] I'll be back presently. [_To HILDA._] Come, Hilda! [_Both_ =Exeunt= _R. 2 E. RALPH_ =Exits= _L. 2 E._]
=Sam.= [_Looking after the girls._] Did you see her? Oh, what a heavenly being! My heart goes after her, and I guess I'll follow my heart. [_About to rush after. ADOLPHUS pulls him back._]
=Adol.= No you don't! If anybody goes, it's me. [_About to go. SAMMY pulls him back._]
=Sam.= I want to pour my heart in her ear!
=Adol.= And I want to let my soul mingle with hers!
=Sam.= Well, we can't both make love to her at once. I have it! We'll draw lots! [_Pulls matches from pocket._] Who draws the short stick proposes first, and if she refuses the short stick then the long stick will have a chance.
=Adol.= Oh, Sammy! What a head you've got.
=Sam= [_Holds sticks towards ADOLPHUS._] Draw! [_ADOLPHUS draws long stick._]
=Sam.= Ah! Now, Dolphy, I'll show you how to do it. Hush! She's coming back! Now you hide behind there. [_Pointing. ADOLPHUS hides behind flower urn, C._]
=Enter= _ADRIENNE, R. 2 E. SAMMY falls on his knee._
=Sam.= Most adorable angel, whose liquid eyes do penetrate the inmost depths of my entranced soul, listen to one who has loved you from his childhood. Fill me with ecstasy by the avowal from thy honeyed lips that you will be forever mine.
=Adri.= [_Laughs heartily._] Rise, you foolish boy, and go home and tell your mother to put a mustard draft on your feet and give you a dose of paregoric.
=Sam.= [_Gets up and scratches his head._] Squashed, by Jupiter! [_He walks to L._]
=Adri.= [_R. Aside._] Where is Ralph, I wonder!
=Adol.= [_Coming forward, C. To SAMMY._] Go home, you foolish boy, and get some paregoric and let Adolphus take off the prize. [_ADRIENNE turns. ADOLPHUS falls on his knee._]
=Adol.= Fairest of the fair and fairer yet, take this my heart and do with it what you like. It's yours forevermore. [=Enter= _REGINALD, R. 2 E., who takes ADRIENNE'S place. ADRIENNE R., REGINALD R. C., ADOLPHUS C., SAMMY L._] Play with it, use it for a foot-ball--do with it what you like, as long as you take your true Adolphus with it. My father owns sixty-eight brick houses, twenty race horses, three hundred slaves, and one-quarter of an acre of good farming land--besides--[_Discovers he is talking to REGINALD._] The devil! [_Starts and rushes off L. 2 E. SAMMY runs after him._]